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Comment by ArgentSun

Here is the story of the Seven Burdens, told in a (relatively) short form.

Emperor Shaohao, the last emperor of Pandaria, ruled the Pandaren sometime before the Sundering. Once, a great Jinyu Waterspeaker told him of a vision in which cataclysmic events would break the world. Shaohao, shaken by this prophecy, climbed Mount Neverest to seek advice from the Jade Serpent, one of the four godlike spirits of Pandaria. The vague response ("... to divest himself of his burdens, to purify his spirit, and to become one with the land.") brought him no wisdom.

It was soon after this event that Shaohao's companion, the Monkey King from the Jade Forest, decided to play a prank on the emperor and mockingly offered him a ridiculous bamboo "mask of doubt." Miraculously, the mask forced all doubt to leave the emperor and manifest itself into a Sha of Doubt, which the two friends then defeated and buried after days of fighting. With the aid of another one of Pandaria's great spirits - the Red Crane - and the Mask of Despair, Shaohao and the Monkey King forced the Sha of Despair to leave the emperor's body, where they could fight and defeat it. Free of doubt and despair, the emperor sought out the Black Ox, with whose aid he and his friends defeated the Sha of Fear and imprisoned it in the earth. Empowered by his successes, Shaohao spoke with the last one of the great spirits, the White Tiger, whose wisdom taught the emperor the folly of anger. With the Monkey King's masks, the emperor and his allies summoned and defeated the Sha of Hatred, the Sha of Anger, and the Sha of Violence.

With the seven mighty Sha defeated, Shaohao charged a group of Pandaren warriors with the task of guarding Pandaria against the return of those creatures, for he knew that even defeated, they could come back if the negative emotions throughout the land sustained them enough. Those warriors became the monk brotherhood called Shado-Pan, and their oath was to stay eternally vigilant against the return of the Sha.

Not too long after Shaohao had overcome his seven burdens, the Sundering began shaking the world. Unable to maintain his purity of spirit, Shaohao felt the Sha stir in their prisons as his own faith wavered. He once again sought advice from the Jade Serpent, and her words inspired him to give up his physical form and let his spirit become one with the land. Thus, even as the rest of the world heaved and shattered, Pandaria drifted away in the ocean, the mists formed of Shaohao's cloak protecting the land from all external threats...

If you wish to read the full story, or at least as much of it as the game provides us with, check out the following book objects:

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The Seven Burdens of Shaohao

This object can be found in Vale of Eternal Blossoms (2).

The Seven Burdens of Shaohao

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